HAPPY NEW YEAR-2017
As I write this week's pastor's column or blog, I cannot help but reflect on my first Christmas with my new family. I can say with the most heartfelt joy and love that I could not be more proud of the family of faith of which I am humbled to have the awesome opportunity to serve. I wish to extend my utmost gratitude and thanks: from all those who gave of their time this Christmas to decorate our beautiful church, our young people who enhanced and made the 4 p.m. Christmas Mass so special, our music ministry, our servers, lectors, ushers, Eucharistic ministers to those who gathered with us possibly for the first time or decided to come home to celebrate with us. Your
witness, your example and your faith has been and will always be
an inspiration to me as we seek to deepen and grow our faith
together. I can't wait to begin our Lenten Journey through the
Lamb's Supper, which truly is Heaven on Earth.
- News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Day
- News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Birthday
- News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Birthday Wishes
News and Notes - Week of 10/14/13. Please email me and I will be happy to share it with you again! 0 Comments News and Notes for the week of 10/7/13. Good Jesus, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you again and to listen to you. I know that you have longed for this moment we will spend together.
As we gathered this weekend, it seems like just yesterday that I arrived, and here we are preparing to celebrate and indeed are celebrating a New Year. Happy 2017!!!
Why one might ask, do we have this Solemnity of Mary on New Year's Day? One might also ask, what does it add to the various other Marian feasts? What this feast celebrates is the
title of Mary 'Theotokos,'Greek for 'God-bearer.' On this Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, not only does our celebration speak to our hearts of her role as mother and as the
very first tabernacle but it also expresses and celebrates her role
as first and foremost a disciple of her Son. In fact, her very first
words in the gospel of Luke were her response to the angel
Gabriel at the Annunciation: 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the
Lord. May it be done unto me according to your word.' And
while she was the very first disciple, she was also the very first
contemplative as there was no way she could have fully known
all of the implications of her Fiat (her 'Yes!'). Still, her response
was not mindless, as we hear: 'She kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.'
Those of us today who strive to be disciples of Jesus can learn much from reflecting on the discipleship of Mary. This reflection can be the deepest form of prayer. This reflection can speak to our sincere gratitude for the blessings of our faith. This reflection can assist us in lettng God's word to penetrate and get inside of us.
Clearly, on this Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Theotokos, God-bearer, we are both called and invited to follow her example and 'reflect on these things in our hearts.' We may think about what it means to be 'blessed.' Yes, we know that like Mary, our lives can also have hard days and many days of suffering and loss. It is at these moments in our lives, that Mary constantly invites us to reach out to her, to pray to her for her courage to keep the faith alive in spite of the pain and sorrow of loss and loneliness.
When we do that, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, will seek us out, wrap us up in the mantle of her maternal love and comfort us as any mother would do. Then she will clean us off, freshen us up and lead us to her Son. Finally, she will present us to her Son and let Jesus also embrace us with His healing and love so we may hear those blessed words, 'Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master's house.' 'Hail Mary Full of grace the Lord is with thee, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of death. Amen.' May God bless you and protect you & your families throughout this New Year……JMJ…..Fr. Bob
Postage delays due to Covid-19
Unfortunately, there are currently still some delays on postage in the UK and rest of the world. If you select ‘standard postage‘ when purchasing products it can take up to 4 weeks in the UK, 6 weeks overseas, we can't guarantee exactly how long this will be. Bulk packs of newspapers are posted using a different method and will be with you sooner.
If you select ‘tracked next day' in the UK this has, at times, taken up to 4 days to arrive as our couriers have experienced delays during the global pandemic. Unfortunately, this is out of our control and we can't offer refunds on next day delivery charges that don't arrive within the 24 hour window. This is still a much faster alternative to standard postage.
Please do bear with us at this busy and difficult time – we are all working super hard to get parcels out and with you ASAP. Our warehouse posts all orders within 12-24 hours of receipt of the order.
Where's my newspaper?
The Happy Newspaper is a quarterly subscription, which means we publish and post newspapers out once every three months, therefore you may not receive your newspaper straight after you subscribe. See the dates below:
Here are The Happy Newspaper publication dates and the ‘cut off' for subscriptions:
1st March – If you subscribed after midnight on 25th November and before midnight on 25th Februarythis will be the first issue you receive.
1st June – If you subscribed after midnight on 25th February and before midnight on 25th May this will be the first issue you receive.
1st September – If you subscribed after midnight on 25th May and before midnight on 25th August this will be the first issue you receive.
1st December – If you subscribed after midnight on 25th August and before midnight on 25th November this will be the first issue you receive.
We aim to post all subscriptions out within 2 weeks of the publication date.
I've moved! How can I change my address?
You can log into your account and change your billing and/or shipping address yourself or you can contact us here. If you send us an address change for a subscription or a gift subscription please ensure you do so before the 25th of the month prior to publication, otherwise it will not get processed in time. We may not be able to respond to every email regarding address changes but please be assured that they are all still processed.
How long do Bulk Packs take to post?
Bulk pack orders are posted within a week of being placed unless you are pre-ordering. Please allow 14 days for delivery.
How do I return a product?
Please contact us here with your order number and reason for returning and we will assist you ASAP. Please don't return products to our PO Box address as this is not our warehouse address.
I keep getting an error message when I try to subscribe or place an order?
Please contact us here and we will try and get back to you to sort this ASAP.
I've ordered some products and a bulk pack of newspapers, why is it not all in one parcel?
Our newspapers and products head out from different locations, so your order will all be sent but may come in 2 packages. Subscriptions are only posted once a quarter so if your order includes a subscription or gift subscription you will get this when the next issue is published (see dates above). Your order will show as part-complete if this is the case.
When will you reply to an email?
We are a very tiny team working remotely here at The Happy News HQ. We aim to respond to emails within 72 hours but at busy times, especially around publication dates it can take us a few days to get back to you.
Can I contribute to THN?
We're always open to more wonderful people and contributions! If you know a person, campaign, charity, organisation or anything that you'd like to tell us about to be featured in THN, please nominate them as an ‘Everyday Hero', here. Please note that if you send us a campaign or charity we may feature this in our ‘campaigns and charities' spread instead where we encourage our readers to help and support in any way they can. If you would like to write or illustrate for the newspaper please do get in touch. Due to high demand we aren't always able to reply to every email regarding contributing, however, we always do our absolute best! (and we keep all emails on file in case we'd like to feature you in the future)
Can I buy a newspaper and get in sent straight to a friend/loved one?
Of course! We love when this happens, what better way to make someone smile than to surprise them with some happy news through their letterbox. You can purchase a Gift Subscription here – remember to put their shipping address, not yours!
Can I buy some newspapers for my school or NHS?
Yes please! We offer a discounted education and NHS rate so we can spread some happy news, please get in touch.
How can I become a stockist of The Happy News?
We would love that, please fill in the form to contact us and we will get back to you ASAP.
What paper do you use for The Happy News?
We use 54gsm, Recycled fibre, chemical pulp and mechanical pulp. Mechanical and chemical pulp are from virgin fibres, which in turn are from FSC managed forests.
Virgin fibres from sustainably managed forests are needed to maintain the paper cycle. Recycled fibres degrade after several uses.
What packaging do you use?
The Happy Newspaper itself is posted out in a compostable wrap (see details below).
Bioplast 300® is plasticiser and GMO-free material based on potato starch, suitable for domestic and industrial composting. Pop into your home compost bin, or food waste caddies and green waste for collection by local authorities. Certification for OK compost HOME, requires the products to completely compost within 6 months in a well-maintained compost unit. No contaminants will be left behind. The material will be completely converted into CO2, water and biomass. (At least 90% of the Carbon will be converted into CO2.) Bioplast 300® is not intended for landfill, although it will biodegrade eventually depending on conditions.
We always aim to post our products from the shop with plastic-free packaging, however certain products in The Happy News range still do use plastic on the individual product packaging, especially the confectionary. We are very passionate about doing our bit to help our planet and are constantly looking at new ways we can implement this within our whole range, not just the newspaper. Please know that these things take a lot of time and understanding but that we are working on it.
News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Day
What size is The Happy Newspaper?
The newspaper is 26.5 x 34 cm laid flat and folded in half it's 26.5 x 17.5 cm
News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Birthday
Can I work for The Happy News?
We currently don't have any jobs on offer however we are always looking at ways we expand our tiny team and ways we can work with others so please do get in touch and we will keep your information on file.
Do you donate raffle prizes for charities/events?
News And Notesweek Of 10 14/13teach To Be Happy Birthday Wishes
We receive a lot of requests for raffle prizes and do our best to donate as much as we can and now run our schools initiative where we commit to sending a newspaper to a school in the UK for every two newspapers we send to subscribers. Unfortunately we can't always offer donations but we do offer a discounted rate for The Happy Newspaper so please do get in touch here.
